At the heArt of Forging
CURATED BY
Careof
IN COLLABORATION WITH
FOMAS Group
JURY
Vincenzo De Bellis (Direttore Artistico Miart e Curatore per le Arti Visive al Walker Art Center di Minneapolis), Jannis Kounellis (artista), Gianni Bolongaro ( Presidente de La Marrana arteambientale) e da persone di Careof e della FOMAS
FINALISTS
Michele Bazzana, Alice Guareschi e Serena Porrati
WINNER
Serena Porrati
On the occasion of its 60th anniversary, FOMAS Group, an international leader in the production of forged and rolled steel rings, launched — between July and September 2015 — a competition open to international artists, offering them the opportunity to create a large-scale steel artwork. As stated by Dr. Jacopo Guzzoni, Vice President of the family-owned company, the project was born out of a passion for contemporary art and the intention to give space and voice to a young artist, involving them in forging techniques; contributing to their professional growth and bringing the company’s employees closer to art.
The project, curated by Careof, had a jury composed of Vincenzo De Bellis (former Artistic Director of Miart and Curator for Visual Arts at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis), Jannis Kounellis (artist), Gianni Bolongaro (president of La Marrana arteambientale), and representatives from Careof and FOMAS. Among over 70 submissions received, the jury selected the projects by Michele Bazzana, Alice Guareschi, and Serena Porrati, who were given the opportunity to visit the company and its production processes and to rethink the project they presented.
Serena Porrati was selected as the winner. The work The object is not there investigates the idea of matter understood as a flow; an unstoppable movement that inevitably overflows the systems it occupies, inspired by the notion of General Economy by French philosopher Georges Bataille. The work consists of five pieces forged in an alloy composed of 97.08% iron. The heights of the elements refer to the fluctuation of market prices of this same material, specifically the “commodity futures” of the Iron Ore Index, a financial negotiation capable of fixing the cost of the material at a specific point in the future. The daily quotations determined the height of the individual elements, eventually representing at the end of the week a peak, a drop, and a moment of stability. An instantaneous monument, the work materializes abstract values; fast data created, disseminated, absorbed and soon forgotten in servers. Computer systems pervade the natural and industrial economic world; revealing the viscosity and porosity of all things. The object is thus not here, but everywhere. It is a flow, an agglomerate of terrestrial thermodynamic elements that transform matter, among which is man. Forging, for the artist Serena Porrati, becomes a synthesis of thought, linguistic categories, and actions that constitute the interaction between civilization and the physical world we inhabit.
The work is the result of two months of production during which the exchange of skills and languages between the engineers and technicians of FOMAS and the artist herself proved essential, offering an opportunity for mutual dialogue and professional enrichment.
ARTISTS BIO
Serena Porrati (1981) is both living and working between London and Milan.
Recent solo exhibitions 2014: COLLASSO MAG Arco Museo Alto Garda. 2012: Supporto Chan Genova. 2011: Faccio fatica, a volte, a vivere da anarchico Spazio Senzatitolo Roma
Recent collective exhibitions.2015: CHAOTIC PASSION Museo Villa Croce Genova, THE WRONG new digital art biennale, MOSTYN OPEN 19, Mostyn Gallery; 2014: A-EYE Goldsmith University; 2013: Show One Central Saint Martins, Encounters between Art and Science British Library, London, The Crooked Tree Sink Art Gallery London; 2012: Artists’ Shorts. An Unfinished World Modern Art Oxford, Is It Really Now? Galleria Artra Milano.
Residenze e premi. 2015: Mostyn Open19 2013: Iron R2, Sculptor Factory Cork, 2012: Advanced Course in Visual Art, FAR Como 2011:, Default Masterclass in Residence, Ramdom and AGM culture Lecce, _ApertoArt on the Border, Valle Camo
FOMAS Group is an industrial group that produces forgings and rings in steel and non-ferrous alloys destined to different markets (Power Generation, Oil & Gas, Automotive, General Industry). With six production sites in Italy and four abroad (US, France, India and China) the Group employs about 1500 people in the world.
The primary objective is to satisfy customers' requirements in terms of technology, quality and on-time delivery. In fact, FOMAS Group provides the customer with the highest level of knowledge of the materials and processes acquired in 60 years of significant activity in the most critical industrial sectors, regardless of where the production plant is located.
For FOMAS Group, forging is a form of ART, an ancient technique that must be handed down, and from this point of view the desire to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the company was born, to "train" an artist in the art of forging steel .
But art has been part of the Group for several years. The Group's passion for the plastic arts has a long history. In 2004, in fact, FOMAS (company at the head of the Group) created the sculpture "Sole per Merate" for the town of Merate, created by the sculptor Giuseppe Spagnulo (one of the artists who have worked with FOMAS for several years) and is now on display in Piazza Italy in Merate.
But this is just one example of the union between FOMAS Group and art, there are other important collaborations and just to name a few, we remember Sean Shanahan and Nagasawa.
Another important juncture between the art world and the Group is the long association with the Foundation "La Marrana Arteambientale" based in the Montemarcello Park, where 35 installations created by artists are gathered in an area subject to landscape constraint known worldwide (from Kounellis to Kosuth, Spalletti, Mainolfi, Fabre, Fulton, Rantzer, Roccasalva, Losi, Airo, Vedovamazzei, Benedini, Mocellin and Pellegrini, Golba, Azuma, Campos-Pons).
These results were also possible thanks to the sponsorship of FOMAS Group which has been supporting the Foundation in these important initiatives for years.
FOMAS GROUP
FOMAS Group is an industrial group that produces forgings and rings in steel and non-ferrous alloys destined to different markets (Power Generation, Oil & Gas, Automotive, General Industry). With six production sites in Italy and four abroad (US, France, India and China) the Group employs about 1500 people in the world.
The primary objective is to satisfy customers' requirements in terms of technology, quality and on-time delivery. In fact, FOMAS Group provides the customer with the highest level of knowledge of the materials and processes acquired in 60 years of significant activity in the most critical industrial sectors, regardless of where the production plant is located.
For FOMAS Group, forging is a form of ART, an ancient technique that must be handed down, and from this point of view the desire to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the company was born, to "train" an artist in the art of forging steel .
But art has been part of the Group for several years. The Group's passion for the plastic arts has a long history. In 2004, in fact, FOMAS (company at the head of the Group) created the sculpture "Sole per Merate" for the town of Merate, created by the sculptor Giuseppe Spagnulo (one of the artists who have worked with FOMAS for several years) and is now on display in Piazza Italy in Merate.
But this is just one example of the union between FOMAS Group and art, there are other important collaborations and just to name a few, we remember Sean Shanahan and Nagasawa.
Another important juncture between the art world and the Group is the long association with the Foundation "La Marrana Arteambientale" based in the Montemarcello Park, where 35 installations created by artists are gathered in an area subject to landscape constraint known worldwide (from Kounellis to Kosuth, Spalletti, Mainolfi, Fabre, Fulton, Rantzer, Roccasalva, Losi, Airo, Vedovamazzei, Benedini, Mocellin and Pellegrini, Golba, Azuma, Campos-Pons).
These results were also possible thanks to the sponsorship of FOMAS Group which has been supporting the Foundation in these important initiatives for years.
THE THEME
The theme At the heArt of Forging invites a reflection on the knowledge of the subject ("at the center of the matter"), but also as an introspective dimension that pushes man to the passion for his work, for his art.
Taking into account that art contributes to "forge" life and to build the future, Art gives a stimulus for a positive vision, as it is a push to go beyond the "present present".
The Award is aimed at the realization of a sculptural work in carbon steel or low alloy (with a maximum weight of two tons and a maximum size of 5x3x5m in height) that enhances and highlights the potential of steel and all its possibilities and variations. The work will be carried out at the FOMAS S.p.a plant in Osnago (Lecco).
